MOVIE SMACKDOWN!

Edge of Darkness (2010) -vs- The Brave One (2007)

The Smackdown. High stakes for Mel Gibson these days. As an actor he's been off the screen.. and uncomfortably in the headlines.. the past half-dozen years. I'm not the only person wondering if audiences would remember Mel Gibson for what he said on screen.. or for what he said during a drunk driving arrest. 

So here he comes in the remake of "Edge of Darkness." This carefully chosen material calls out all the character elements that define Gibson's screen work: emotional intensity, a violated sense of right and wrong, and few qualms about a violent response.

Those descriptions apply to Jodie Foster's work in a Smackdown winner from 2007, "The Brave One." Both are star-driven revenge movies that rely on lethal remedies when the legal ones fall short. 

The Challenger. Police detective Tommy Craven (Gibson) has a surprise guest for dinner, his daughter Emma (Bojana Novakovic). She doesn't look very good and begins vomiting blood onto her dinner plate. Somebody shotguns Emma on the front porch on their way to the emergency room -- was she the intended victim, or her dad? That question provides the bounce for everything that follows in "Edge of Darkness." There are betrayals, cover-ups, shadowy figures and bloody payback as Tommy Craven unravels the radioactive truth that cost Emma's life. Martin Campbell directed a script from William Monahan and Andrew Bovell based on the BBC series written by Troy Kennedy Martin.

Legion (2010) -vs- Daybreakers (2010)

The Smackdown. It's the end of the world. Again.  Mankind is doomed. Yawn. Grab yourself a tub of popcorn and an overpriced soft drink and settle in for the carnage. Why do filmmakers love apocalyptic scenarios so freaking much? And how many ways are there to skin this particular feline?  The Last Humans on Earth have to do battle for the survival of their species against all manner of predator. 

Aliens?  Check. Vampires?  Check. Angels?  Hang on. There's a new wrinkle. Everybody's seen and loved "It's A Wonderful Life." Aren't angels supposed to be on our side?  

Obviously somebody didn't get the memo because the newly released "Legion" calls out the forces of heaven; the irresisitible force in "Daybreakers" came from another darker place. Both of these films strain story logic and borrow from better movies but ultimately sputter out the same question: Humans, how do you want to die?

 

The Challenger. God wants to cut His losses with humanity, and Legion has Archangels Gabriel and Michael dispatched to wipe the slate clean. They quibble about God's will, with Michael (Paul Bettany) deciding people deserve another chance. Michael senses an unborn child will lead humanity back from the brink, so it appears Armageddon will be fought at a roadside diner in the high desert outside Las Vegas. You know how this one turns out if you remember The Terminator, Assault on Precinct 13 and scramble your biblical knowledge.

Happy 2010 from the Smack: Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) -vs- When Harry Met Sally... (1989)

 Love Amid the Party Favors 

The Smackdown. I can’t criticize anyone who’s not struck by the party mood as 2009 lurches to a merciful end. Recession, foreclosures, unemployment. Really, what’s to celebrate, so let’s see how a pair of seasonal movies rise above the gloom. The characters that populate “When Harry Met Sally…” and “Bridget Jones’s Diary” survive the holiday gauntlet with their dignity intact. Both films beat back loneliness and offer inspiration. These days we’re all looking for that recipe. That’s what this Smackdown is all about: Whose New Year’s Eve party do you want to attend? 

• {Editor's Note: There's a poll of Top Ten New Year's Eve movies to vote on at the end of this Smackdown. The results are worth checking out as they've shaped up so far.}  

Director Rob Reiner struck gold “When Harry Met Sally…” opened in 1989. The package had everything: a smart, Oscar nominated script from Nora Ephron, and several memorable scenes replayed and parodied over the years. The performances still hold up. Surrounding this is great music from both Gershwins, Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Irving Berlin, Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington.

“Bridget Jones’s Diary” quickly found a worldwide audience in Sharon Maguire’s 2001 feature film directorial debut. Helen Fielding, Andrew Davies and Richard Curtis adapted Fielding’s popular novel about a London woman concerned about love, her career prospects and her weight. Renee Zellweger shows an easy comic touch with a British accent.

Both movies offer much to celebrate; one more than the other.

The Challenger. After another lousy New Year’s Eve, Bridget Jones starts keeping a diary amid high hopes. She wants to drop some weight, cut back on smoking and drink less. Bridget is not very successful there, or in love. She falls for her scoundrel boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), who likes her well enough until a new thrill comes along. Cleaver is charming, predatory, funny and betrayal comes easily for him. Just ask lawyer Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) whose wife ran off with his best man, Daniel Cleaver. Bridget’s parents (Jim Broadbent and Gemma Jones) fitfully try to match her with Darcy. He’s becoming interested in a roundabout way but Bridget is not. She’s too busy with her new job as a TV reporter. It’s not going well until Darcy helps her land the big interview. Bridget is still enthralled by the scraps of attention Cleaver tosses her way. Mark Darcy barely shows his cards: “..What I’m trying to say..very inarticulately.. is that despite appearances I like you. Very much.” Bit by bit Bridget’s eyes are opened to Darcy’s submerged decency and Cleaver’s utter lack of character.

"Galaxy Quest" Boldly Arrived Ten Years Ago!

  Galaxy Quest (1999) -vs- Spaceballs (1987) 
  Patrolling the Universe for Laughs   

The Smackdown. While the newspapers and magazines are full of "Best Of" lists for the past ten years, let's get specific. It was a decade ago that the great "Star Trek" send-up "Galaxy Quest" came to theaters on Christmas Day of 1999.   This year we put the film into the Smackdown ring against another comedy send-up "Spaceballs" which took on the other great space franchise, "Star Wars." While fan boys and girls alike will be debating "Star Wars" versus "Star Trek" for generations to come, maybe just maybe we can get a clear winner out of the comic dopplegangers. Here we go!

Even both of these comedy treatments have a strong fan-base (count me in both) and they're funny. True fans got a chance to appreciate that this year when "Galaxy Quest" came out with its special DVD much as "Spaceballs" did back in 2005. The Smackdown rules today focus on those special elements on the Deluxe Edition / Collector's Edition DVDs. 

The Blind Side (2009) -vs- Hoosiers (1986)

 Blurring the Lines; Beating the Odds 

The Smackdown. We cheer as Eliza Doolittle becomes My Fair Lady and when The Soloist Nathaniel Ayers recovers himself through music. Along the way the facts blur that one movie is based on a true story, the other is fiction since both say something meaningful about beating the odds and personal redemption. Sometimes the distinctions don't matter and sometimes they do.

Few people beat longer odds than Michael Oher, whose life story (the biggest parts) is the heart of The Blind Side. The marketing promos emphasize Sandra Bullock as a comedic southern fried Pollyanna, but not the throwaway kid whose real life - off the football field, and on - gives this material its backbone. It's a story where the distinctions matter.

Fiction and fact reinforce one another in 1986's Hoosiers. It carries one of those "based on a true story" qualifiers that accompany those enhancements tacked onto many films. Even with those elements acknowledged, Hoosiers remains a popular and well-made story of a David -vs- Goliath Smackdown on an Indiana basketball court.

So here's the Smackdown: Deciding whether a movie works better when it leans on the facts, or as fiction "based on a true story."